


In the Dark

by TheDragon



Series: Within the Darkness [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Era, Captivity, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 13:02:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11358063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDragon/pseuds/TheDragon
Summary: He’s going to find Merlin. He’s going to get him back, and then he’s going to spend the next few days begging Merlin to forgive him for doubting him for even asecond.And if Merlin doesn’t? Well, that’s no less than he deserves.





	In the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Finally got around to finishing this piece! It's been sitting in my WIP folder _forever_. ~~I mean, all I really needed to do was edit it, which, for some reason, I never got around to doing.~~

Arthur remembers how distraught he was, back when Agravaine told him about Merlin and his betrayal – distraught and disbelieving. He remembers thinking that _no_ , this was _Merlin_ , thinking that Merlin would never do something like this, not to _him_.

But Agravaine said that he’d seen Merlin among the enemy attackers, helping them, and, after it was all over – fleeing with them. He remembers deciding to go search Merlin’s room in the hopes of proving Agravaine wrong, of explaining that he must have seen wrong, or that he must have seen something else – _someone_ else.

And then he’d found a copy of the map of Camelot’s siege tunnels at the bottom of Merlin’s wardrobe.

He remembers not talking to anyone for days on end, shutting himself away in his chambers, and doing his best to distract himself with work so that he wouldn’t have to think about the heartbreak Merlin’s betrayal had left him with; he remembers wondering how Merlin could _do_ this to him.

And now Lancelot and Gwaine are both standing in front of him, telling him that they found out where the attackers had fled, how they heard some of them talking and laughing and making crude comments about a prisoner they had ( _Some servant_ , they’d said, _won’t give up ‘is King no matter what we do to ‘im._ ), and Arthur can _feel_ his whole world falling apart into pieces.

At first, there’s relief – so much relief that he actually feels faint and has to blink away the tears in his eyes. But the relief comes and goes quickly, replaced with a growing fear for Merlin and anger at himself for having listened to Agravaine, for having believed that Merlin, _his Merlin_ , would be capable of doing something like this to him. He should have known better, should have gone after Merlin himself. Instead, he’d abandoned the one person in this world whom he cared about most.

Gwaine and Lancelot are both looking at him with thinly veiled anger. _They_ never believed that Merlin betrayed them. _They_ didn’t let themselves be manipulated into believing something so obviously untrue. _They_ stuck up for Merlin, tried to talk sense into Arthur, but he hadn’t wanted to listen.

He can feel the shame burning through him, the guilt coiling in his stomach, and he ignores it. There will be time for that later; shame and guilt and apologies (oh so many apologies). Right now, there are more important things to focus on.

Right now, they need to get Merlin back.

“Ready the horses,” Arthur orders. “We leave as soon as we can.”

He’s going to find Merlin. He’s going to get him back, and then he’s going to spend the next few days begging Merlin to forgive him for doubting him for even a _second_.

And if Merlin doesn’t? Well, that’s no less than he deserves.


End file.
